1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to insect swatters.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Insect swatters also called herein fly swatters have been known for many years. When you need one, nothing else is quite so handy. Nevertheless, those known to the prior art have defects. I have swatted at and missed many a fly I would have hit if the swatter had been only a little bit bigger. One doesn't want it so big as to become unwieldly or so big as to make it hard to get into cracks or corners or hard to reach places, but a somewhat larger fly swatter would be effective. Applicant's research has shown that the ideal size is approximately 9 inches plus or minus one inch square which gives a total surface area of about one-half square foot.
In addition, who has not seen ugly insect remains on walls? For most people, the purpose of a fly swatter is to get rid of flies, not to put up miniature trophies on the wall similar to the hanging head of an animal only substantially smaller. Unfortunately, walls are hard, fly swatters are hard, and insects are relatively fragile when squeezed between two hard surfaces. Accordingly, what is needed but not found in the prior art is a fly swatter which is capable of killing flies and yet has a soft enough surface so that no remains are squished into the wall.
Part of the reason for this lack in the prior art is the unfortunate fact that flies will sometimes light on a soft surface such as a rug. In that case, if you hit them with a very soft surface, they would be squeezed between two soft surfaces and would get away. Accordingly, what is needed is a fly swatter with a variable hardness surface so that the surface hardness can be adjusted depending on what the fly is resting on. The present invention comprises and basically accomplishes this by providing two generally coextensive surfaces, one hard and one soft.
After you hit the fly, unfortunately, he does not go away. Unless you want a large quantity of dead fly bodies or other insect bodies laying around your house, you'd have to pick the thing up and throw it away. With prior art fly swatters, there is no convenient way to do this, and frequently people will get toilet paper, wrap the toilet paper around the fly, and dispose of the remains. What is needed but not found in the prior art is some handy way of transferring the fly to a surface which need not be kept so clean as to prevent it from carrying a fly, and permit the fly to be easily carried to a place where it can be disposed of. The present fly swatter contains such an arrangement.